Last weekend, August 27th and 28th, marked the first of what will likely become an annual firearms-related trade show located in the Pacific Northwest. Organized by Rainier Arms, the Northwest Shooting Sports Expo — or NWSSE — is basically a smaller version of SHOT Show and was located in the Tacoma Convention Center in Tacoma, WA (30 miles South of Seattle). TTAG had feet on the ground courtesy of my friend, “CASES4CASES,” and we have a bunch of great new and interesting product photos and tidbits to share during the coming week.
The expo was well organized, well attended (most of these photos were taken early…C4C said it was busy, but not crowded), and tidy. With 50 vendor booths it wasn’t particularly large, but for a first shot at it this strikes me as a success.
The list of exhibitors comprises a not-too-shabby “who’s who” of firearms, optics, suppressors, and other gear and accessories manufacturers.
Benefiting The Darby Project in support of Army Ranger vets, a VIP Event dubbed “An Evening With Heroes” took place Saturday night.
It included food, an open bar, giveaways, raffles for some really legit prizes, free laser tag and dodge ball, and more. Competitive dodge ball for prizes, actually, such as GEMTECH silencers. A highlight of the evening was the “Joe’s vs Bro’s Laser Tag Exhibition,” which apparently pitted professional laser taggers against a team of predominately Army Ranger veterans (who got “absolutely crushed”).
A DJ kept things lively inside.
And a cigar roller made a fine accompaniment to the whiskey, beer, wine, and coffee available both inside and outside in the beer garden area.
As mentioned, raffle prizes were no joke. Seen above is a SIG MCX, a handful of GEMTECH suppressors, a Vortex Optics Razor of some flavor, Tatoosh bourbon and rye, and a Liberty Safe HDX-250 biometric vault. But it didn’t end there…
Impressive spread, eh? Next year, out-of-town guests or not, I’m making my way to NWSSE for what looked like a really good time and a nice show.
Stay tuned, as all of the SHOT Show product-style posts you’d expect will be hitting TTAG throughout the week.
Last pic looks like a Fortis Trademark on those XXX rails??? info??
Those are Fortis rails, if I remember correctly.
Josiah is correct – they are Fortis rails
Overheard the guys at the Gemtech booth saying that they already want to sign up for next year. Also heard similar things from several other venders. I believe this event will be much larger next year.
I concur, Josiah. I spoke with 99% of the vendors and I did not hear a single complaint – only great things about the show and Rainier Arms. The show was invite-only and I believe this contributed to the overall feel of the show for everyone – attendees, vendors, and press. I also think they will have another show next year. However, I’m not sure the number of vendors will increase drastically. Rainier Arms will most likely continue to hand-pick the vendors it wants there.
Do they actually sell stuff?
Many vendors did have components and accessories for sale at their booths. I picked up some great ammo from Freedom Munitions and some Can Cannon M-200 blanks from X-Products – both at a heck of a deal. Some vendors were allowing pre-purchase of products that will ship later. I believe no firearms were being sold at the show.
Was there any announcemet/advertising about this event outside of Tacoma.? Or on TTAG? It would of been nice to know about it before now…
It was sent out on Rainier Arms email list. That was the only way I knew about it. The event was free except for the VIP event where they had the cigars, food, and booz. The Vendors didnt really sell anything, but almost everything was available through Rainier Arms. It was a good time, and I intend to go next year if/when they do it again.
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